Management team
Catherine Moukheibir
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Catherine Moukheibir has 20 years of experience integrating corporate and financial strategies in European pharma and biotech companies, following from a 15-year career in management consulting and investment banking in the US and London. She is Chairman of Medday since 2016 and was recently appointed CEO. Her relevant expertise includes six years on the Executive Board of Innate Pharma, during which time Innate entered into emblematic partnerships with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca. She was Chairman of Creabilis (acquired by Sienna Pharmaceuticals); non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Zealand Pharma during which time Zealand restructured and reinforced the management team, listed on Nasdaq and monetised the Sanofi royalty stream; non-executive Director and member of the transaction committee and audit committees of Ablynx, during which time Ablynx listed on Nasdaq and was acquired by Sanofi. In addition to her Medday responsibilities, Catherine is currently a non-executive Director of Orphazyme, Genkyotex, Ironwood and Kymab. Earlier she was the Chief Financial Officer of Movetis, overseeing the company’s IPO on Euronext in December 2009 and subsequent sale to Shire. Catherine Moukheibir holds an MA and an MBA from Yale University.
Frédéric Sedel
Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder
Frédéric Sedel, MD, PhD, is co-founder, Board member and Chief Scientific Officer of MedDay. He is a trained neurologist and neuroscientist. After completing his residency in Paris and his PhD at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris), he studied Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM) with Prof. Saudubray at the Necker Children’s Hospital (Paris). Between 2004 and 2013, Dr Sedel founded and coordinated the Neurometabolic Department of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (Paris) dedicated to treating adults with IEM. Dr Sedel has been part of the Reference Centre for Lysosomal Diseases, Vice President of the French Society for IEM, and President of the SSIEM European Adult Metabolic Group. He has published around 100 peer-reviewed articles, mostly dedicated to Neurometabolism. He discovered the effects of MD1003 in progressive Multiple Sclerosis.
Philippe Motté
Chief Access Officer and VP Global Head Regulatory Affairs (on leave)
Philippe Motté has more than 20 years expertise in regulatory affairs and market access. He is a pharmacist, and he holds a PhD in biochemistry and an MBA from ESCP-EAP. Philippe started in academics in France and as a post-doc fellow at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) where he developed monoclonal antibody-based cancer diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Philippe began his career in the industry in France at Pasteur-Mérieux (now the vaccine branch of Sanofi) in the biotechnology and vaccine field. Joining SmithKline Beecham (now GSK), he registered the first hepatitis A vaccine and subsequent products, and then took responsibility for marketing an antibiotic franchise. He further managed market access of major innovative drugs at Roche, and at Ipsen as the Head for regulatory affairs and market access. Enlarging his scope, he took international responsibilities at Ipsen as the VP Global Regulatory Affairs where he strongly contributed to the international expansion of the company. Philippe then joined AbbVie at its inception as Head of Western Europe Regulatory Affairs, where he obtained a strong track record in biologics, immunology, hepatitis C and oncology. Prior to joining MedDay he was the VP Regulatory Affairs International at AbbVie, where he rolled out the portfolio in Latin America, Europe, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. In all those positions, Philippe has gained a robust expertise in designing regulatory strategies and gaining access to market in Europe, US and International markets.
Philippe is also Associate Professor at the University of Paris where he teaches Regulatory Affairs at the School of Pharmacy.
Philippe joined MedDay in 2018.
Stephen Nguyen-Duc
VP, Global Head of Human Resources and Ethics & Compliance
Stephen Nguyen-Duc joined MedDay as Global Head for Ethics & Compliance.
Stephen is graduated from the Pharmacy School of Paris with a major in industrial pharmacy and pharmacology. He is also an alumni of INSEAD Business School complemented by a healthcare Compliance Certificate from Sciences Po Paris and Seton Hall Law School. As part of his career, he has held several senior positions in Clinical Operations, Human Resources and Compliance in multinational Pharmaceutical companies. In his last position before MedDay, he was the Compliance Officer for Europe and Canada at Abbvie Pharmaceuticals.
Stephen is an active member of various pharmaceutical industry associations and committees, proactively addressing Trust, Reputation and Compliance matters.
Stephen joined MedDay in November, 2018.
Hermine Cadence
Finance Director Group
Hermine Cadence is Finance Director Group at MedDay. After an MBA at Winthrop University in the US, Hermine worked as a Financial Analyst for Mergent, a leading international provider of business and financial information on public and private companies. She joined the finance team of Wyeth France in 2002 and went on to gain financial management experience in a number of international pharmaceutical companies. Hermine worked for Orphan Europe during its international growth period and during the merger within the Recordati Group.
She manages the financial and administrative aspects of MedDay since March 2016.
Anne-Sophie Larivière
Value Strategy Director
Anne-Sophie Larivière is Value Strategy Director at MedDay. As part of her work, she focuses on the drivers of value for the key asset of the company as well as on corporate communication. Prior to this position, she was Strategic Marketing Director.
Prior to joining MedDay, Anne-Sophie worked for several years in a global consulting firm focused on pharma and biotech. There, she developed extensive work experience in the orphan space and specialized in supporting American biotech companies commercializing alone in Europe. Prior to this, she worked at Sanofi in Singapore.
Anne-Sophie graduated as a Chemical Engineer and holds a Master’s in Management from ESCP-Europe (Paris).
Anne-Sophie joined MedDay in March, 2017.
Amine Tahiri
Pharmaceutical Affairs Director and Responsible Pharmacist
Amine Tahiri joined MedDay as Pharmaceutical Affairs Director. With 19 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Amine held various positions in manufacturing, supply chain, drug development and business development within pharmaceutical companies and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO). Amine trained as a Doctor of Pharmacy at Montpellier University and holds an MBA from Burgundy Business School.
Géraldine van den Broek
Head of Legal
Géraldine van den Broek joined MedDay as Head of Legal. She graduated from the University of Panthéon-Assas and the bar of Paris (2005). She worked for two years as an attorney in commercial litigation in Paris before moving to the United States where she joined Pfizer Inc in New York. In 2009, Géraldine moved to Pfizer France and was responsible for all legal matters for the Pfizer Oncology and Pfizer Consumer businesses until 2012, when she joined Mundipharma France as Legal Director for France and the Benelux region.
Géraldine joined Medday in April, 2017.
Catherine Moukheibir
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Catherine Moukheibir has 20 years of experience integrating corporate and financial strategies in European pharma and biotech companies, following from a 15-year career in management consulting and investment banking in the US and London. She is Chairman of Medday since 2016 and was recently appointed CEO. Her relevant expertise includes six years on the Executive Board of Innate Pharma, during which time Innate entered into emblematic partnerships with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca. She was Chairman of Creabilis (acquired by Sienna Pharmaceuticals); non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at Zealand Pharma during which time Zealand restructured and reinforced the management team, listed on Nasdaq and monetised the Sanofi royalty stream; non-executive Director and member of the transaction committee and audit committees of Ablynx, during which time Ablynx listed on Nasdaq and was acquired by Sanofi. In addition to her Medday responsibilities, Catherine is currently a non-executive Director of Orphazyme, Genkyotex, Ironwood and Kymab. Earlier she was the Chief Financial Officer of Movetis, overseeing the company’s IPO on Euronext in December 2009 and subsequent sale to Shire. Catherine Moukheibir holds an MA and an MBA from Yale University.
Frédéric Sedel
Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder
Frédéric Sedel, MD, PhD, is co-founder, Board member and Chief Scientific Officer of MedDay. He is a trained neurologist and neuroscientist. After completing his residency in Paris and his PhD at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris), he studied Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM) with Prof. Saudubray at the Necker Children’s Hospital (Paris). Between 2004 and 2013, Dr Sedel founded and coordinated the Neurometabolic Department of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (Paris) dedicated to treating adults with IEM. Dr Sedel has been part of the Reference Centre for Lysosomal Diseases, Vice President of the French Society for IEM, and President of the SSIEM European Adult Metabolic Group. He has published around 100 peer-reviewed articles, mostly dedicated to Neurometabolism. He discovered the effects of MD1003 in progressive Multiple Sclerosis.
Chahra Louafi
Non-Executive Director, Bpifrance
Chahra Louafi is Investment Director and head of the fund for biotherapies and rare diseases at Bpifrance (previously CDC Entreprises). Prior to joining CDC Entreprises, she was in charge of project development and company creation in a private incubator specialized in biotechnologies. At CDC Entreprises, Chahra worked with the New Developments team and was responsible for technology transfer operations and investments in funds of funds focused on the financing of start-ups. She is Vice-president of the supervisory board of Inserm Transfert Initiative and member of the supervisory board of Cap Décisif Management. She sits on several boards including DBV Technologies, Sensorion, Eyevensys, Pixium Vision and Lysogene.
Antoine Papiernik
Non-Executive Director, Sofinnova Partners
Antoine Papiernik is a Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, which he joined in 1997. Antoine has been an initial investor and active board member in public companies like Actelion, ProQR, NovusPharma (then sold to CTI), Movetis (then sold to Shire), Mainstay, Pixium Vision and Stentys, which went public respectively on the Zürich stock exchange, the NASDAQ, the Milan Nuovo Mercato, the Belgium Stock Exchange, the Dublin Stock Exchange and EuroNext Paris, in Cotherix (initially NASDAQ listed, then sold to Actelion), CoreValve (sold to Medtronic), Fovea (sold to Sanofi Aventis) and Ethical Oncology Science (EOS, sold to Clovis Oncology). He has also invested in and is a board member of private companies ReCor, MD Start, Shockwave Medical, Reflexion Medical, Gecko Biomedical, Rgenix and Corwave. Antoine has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. In 2012 and 2011, Antoine was selected by Forbes for its “Midas List” of the world’s top venture capital investors. Antoine is one of the only Europeans on the list, and one of the few life science investors as well.
Raphaël Wisniewski
Non-Executive Director, Andera Partners
Raphaël Wisniewski joined the Life Sciences Team of Andera Partners (formerly Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners) in 2001. Previously, he worked in Healthcare Corporate Finance at Goldman Sachs starting at Salomon Smith Barney. He worked also in the Finance Department of Health in London and in the finance department of General Healthcare in London, the private hospital group. Raphaël is a graduate of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales and holds a postgraduate diploma in Economics and Finance from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP), Paris. Raphaël is a Director of Axonics, Poxel, ReViral, MedDay, Grey Wolf, Enyo Pharma and Dynacure.
George Garibaldi
Non-Executive Director
George Garibaldi MD is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist with more than 20 years’ experience of global therapy development and medical affairs at Sandoz/Novartis, Janssen and Roche. Most recently, Dr Garibaldi served as Global Head of Neurosciences Product Development at F. Hoffmann La Roche. In this role, he developed Ocrelizumab, an antiCD20 monoclonal antibody, in Primary Progressive and Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. In his different tenures, he led the global development and approval of multiple new molecular entities in various indications of psychiatry, neurodegenerative, neuroimmunological and neurodevelopmental diseases. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr Garibaldi is the founder and past president of the International Society for CNS Trial Methodology and is currently the chairman of the International Society for CNS Drug Development.
Dr Garibaldi holds a medical degree (MB BcH) from Cairo University, specialized in Psychiatry and child psychiatry at Université René Descartes, Psychopharmacology at Pitié-Salpêtrière and biostatistics at the Kremlin Bicêtre in Paris.
Philippe Goupit
Non-Executive Director
Philippe Goupit was, until recently, Vice President, Corporate Licenses at Sanofi. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceuticals industry and has spent over 20 years at Sanofi. His experience in business development covers M&A, as a former head of the corporate M&A group in Sanofi, and licensing activities. Philippe Goupit also served for some years as the Head of Investor Relations at Sanofi.
Janet Vergis
Non-Executive Director
Janet Vergis has more than 25 years’ experience in the healthcare industry with a strong track record with growing businesses. She currently serves as an Executive Advisor to private equity firms and was most recently Chief Executive Officer of OraPharma, Inc. where she led the successful turnaround and subsequent sale of the company. Prior to these roles, Ms. Vergis managed a $6 billion portfolio at Johnson & Johnson as President of Janssen Pharmaceutica, McNeil Pediatrics, and Ortho-McNeil Neurologics. Vergis currently serves on the Board of Directors for Church and Dwight Co., Inc. and Impax Laboratories, Inc., is Chairman of The Biotech Advisory Board and a Member of The Dean’s Advisory Counsel for The Eberly College of Science at The Pennsylvania State University.
Ms. Vergis earned a B.S. degree in Biology and an M.S. degree in Physiology from Penn State.
Howard Weiner
Chairman
Howard Weiner, MD, is Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board and is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Director and Founder of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center. He is also Co-Director of the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston where he established the CLIMB observational cohort of 2,000 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients which led to a partnership with Google Life Sciences to deeply phenotype Multiple Sclerosis patients and the development of precision medicine for Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Weiner has pioneered immunotherapy in Multiple Sclerosis, investigating immune mechanisms in nervous system diseases, and is currently at the forefront of investigating the microbiome in Multiple Sclerosis. He has been honoured with the establishment of the Howard L. Weiner Professorship of Neurologic Diseases and has received the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research and the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award for investigating the innate immune system in Alzheimer’s disease. He is the author of the book CURING Multiple Sclerosis and the award-winning film documentary “What is Life? The Movie.”
John Alam
John Alam, MD, is Founder and CEO of EIP Pharma, a private biotechnology company that is developing an oral small molecule drug that is in clinical Phase II testing as a disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alam is on the board of directors for Alliance for Aging Research, a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating scientific discoveries related to the aging process and their application; and was previously on the Board of Trustees of Accelerated Cure Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing research on understanding underlying causes/drivers of Multiple Sclerosis. Previously, he was therapeutic area head for diseases of aging within Sanofi R&D where he led global R&D activities directed at Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related diseases. Prior to this, he held several positions of responsibility at Vertex Pharmaceuticals including Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Medicines Development.
Jack Antel
Jack Antel, MD, is a clinical neurologist who coordinates the multiple sclerosis research and treatment program at the Montreal Neurological Institute. He is currently a Professor at McGill University where he has previously served as Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery. From 2007-2015 he served as the National Scientific Director of the endMS Research and Training Network supported by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Prior to this, Dr. Antel served as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada 2004-2007 while also serving as President of the International Society of Neuroimmunology.
He is currently the president of ACTRIMS (American Committee for Research and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis) and is Editor for the Americas of the Multiple Sclerosis Journal. In 2005, he was the recipient of the Dystel Award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Academy of Neurology.
Heidi McBride
Heidi McBride, Ph.D, is Canada Research Chair in Mitochondrial Biology and a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University where her work focuses on the molecular mechanisms and function of mitochondrial dynamics. The overarching theme of her lab is to understand the fundamental behaviour of the mitochondria, and to identify the molecular mechanisms of communication required to mediate cellular transitions, including metabolic, cell cycle, immune pathways and cell death transitions. Dr. McBride is also engaged in a number of collaborations within the Rare Neurological Disease Group at the Montreal Neurological Institute and with international colleagues. Heidi McBride received her B.Sc and Ph.D from McGill University and completed a Post-doctoral fellowship from European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) before starting her independent research career at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Dennis Selkoe
Dennis Selkoe, MD, is the Vincent and Stella Coates Professor of Neurologic Diseases at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Virginia School of Medicine, he trained at the National Institutes of Health, the Harvard/Longwood Neurology Program and the Department of Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School (HMS).
He focused his studies on the use of molecular approaches to study Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and translating his discoveries into therapeutic approaches.
Dr. Selkoe was the principal founding scientist of Athena Neurosciences, later part of Elan Pharmaceuticals, and founded the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center in 2001. He is also a founding director of Prothena Biosciences. He has had numerous publications in Nature, Science, Neuron and other journals, and has received many honours for his contribution to medicine.